The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that is fighting Bashir al Assad's regime in Syria, has claimed credit for two more suicide attacks and said it conducted joint operations with two other jihadist groups. In one of the joint operations, Al Nusrah claimed it shot down a Syrian Air Force MiG. The al Qaeda-linked terror group has now claimed credit for 34 of the 42 suicide attacks that have been reported in Syria since December 2011.

The terror group claimed the attacks and operations in a series of statements that were released yesterday on jihadist internet forums. The statements have been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The two suicide attacks claimed by Al Nusrah have not been previously reported. The first attack was part of a complex operation and took place on Oct. 9 at "the Aswaq al Kheir barrier [outpost] ... monitored in the area of Ain Tarma in the countryside of Damascus," according to the statement translated by SITE. A suicide bomber identified as Abu Muhammad al Furati detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint to the outpost, "destroying two tanks and burning the third." The suicide attack allowed Al Nusrah fighters to enter the outpost. Al Nusrah claimed that 75 Syrian soldiers and one of its own fighters were killed during the attack.

The second suicide attack took place on Nov. 9 "in the countryside of Hama, east of the city of Soran and close to the Nusayri [Alawhite] villages." A suicide bomber named Abu Humam al Shamali attacked "the Samrah checkpoint" and killed several military personnel, including "Abu Dinyal, a specialist in killing the Sunni people with a knife, and Captain Yunus, who committed the massacre of northern al-Fan in the countryside of Hama."

Joint operations with other Syrian jihadist groups

In addition to the two suicide attacks, Al Nusrah also claimed credit in the Nov. 14 statements for numerous ambushes and IED attacks, as well as two joint operations with two other al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups in Syria. Both of the joint operations took place on Nov. 1.

In the first operation, Al Nusrah said it "participated with Sukur al Sham," or the Hawks of Syria, to attack "the Hamisho barrier that is centered on the Saraqeb - al-Nayrab road."

"The Front participated with a brigade composed of five elements, and the barrier was destroyed after completing the attack operation," al Nusrah said.

In the second operation, Al Nusrah teamed up with the Ahrar al Sham Brigades, or Free Men of Syria, to attack "the ICARDA barrier, where a MiG plane was shot down." Several Syrian soldiers were killed and the groups seized weapons, ammunition, night vision goggles, and vehicles.

The Ahrar al Sham Brigades is a Salafist-jihadist group that operates in Idlib and the surrounding areas, and has numerous foreign fighters in its ranks. Sheik Adnan al Arour, a prominent Syrian cleric who has often appeared in the media, backs the Ahrar al Sham Brigades. According to The New York Times, Arour said the group buys "weapons from the donations and savings of the Wahhabi children and not from the Americans like the Shiites of Iraq did." Wahhabism is the radical branch of Islam promoted by the Saudi government.

Sukur al Sham is another radical jihadist group that operates in Idlib and elsewhere. Abu Zein, a spokesman for the group, told The New York Times that Arabs, Frenchmen, and Belgians are present in the ranks, and that the group espouses al Qaeda's ideology.

"The Qaeda ideology existed previously, but it was suppressed by the regime," Abu Zein told The New York Times in July. "But after the uprising they found very fertile ground, plus the funders to support their existence. The ideology was present, but the personnel were absent. Now we have both."

Al Nusrah Front and suicide attacks

The al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front has been the most active jihadist group in Syria. It has claimed credit for 34 of the 42 known suicide bombings in Syria